STILL HAVEN’T FOUND WHAT YOU’RE LOOKING FOR?

The nastiest position on set… the director’s assistant

Those of you that have seen ‘I’ve Got This Idea For A Film’ will most likely remember Andrew Brown, my awesome assistant in Melbourne. The problem was, he was never meant to be an assistant director in the traditional sense, he was just my assistant. Someone who could support me in the all the shit that I have to do, aside from all the shit that a traditional Assistant Director has to do. We actually gave him a different title, of Project Manager’s Assistant, but that went out of the window within about three minutes of the first scene on set. Best intentions and all that.

Anyway… we are working out the crew positions for the 72 in Birmingham and we’ll get in touch with crew soon. However, I’m happy to say that I think I’ve found someone with the right level of enthusiasm, intelligence and free time to be my assistant this time around. Let’s say he is my Personal Assistant, as opposed to a Production Assistant. Most of you won’t care what his title is, but those words are about £10,000 p.a. apart in the ‘real world’.

Here’s Caleb:

On Wednesday I had a meeting with the director of the upcoming 72 project’s film. I had mentioned to the director James Fair, a few months prior after a lecture at Stafford University, that I’d be interested in interning with Grand Independent over the summer. I knew that there was a tremendous amount of work to do for the film and explained that I’d be willing to help in any way I could, James asked me to e-mail him about it once I’d finished the 1st year. After I completed all my modules, I e-mailed James who was then in Tehran on his honeymoon and we arranged a meeting

During the meeting James was explaining how much there was left to do for the project, which as it turns out is a lot, which is to be expected with a project of this size. James explained that if I were to be present I’d be there to contribute, and not to sit in a corner to watch and learn through osmosis. I’ve always believed that the easiest way to learn something is to do it so this was fine by me, we discussed the film itself, the cast, the crew, the revisions to the script and a whole host of other things that have to be solidified before the film starts production in July.

After a lengthy discussion James offered me the role of Directors Assistant, a role that was filled in the previous 72 by Andrew Brown who upon the film’s completion said “It’s this Role, it’s impossible, yet possible, because we’ve done it, at the expense of my brain, it’s completely died”. So I knew that it wouldn’t be an easy job by any stretch of the imagination and that I’d no doubt be taken out of my comfort zone and be pushed to do and try new things, so of course I accepted without any hesitation.

So over the next few months I’ll be working with James and the rest of the crew to nail down the pre-production work and ensure the 72 runs as smoothly as possible. My main job is going to be to try and alleviate as much of the stress from James as I can and to try and make everything run smoothly. I don’t expect the next few months to be an easy process but I’m looking forward to it and can’t wait to be a part of my first feature film.